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Small Business Saturday catching on in Green Bay area

Locally-owned businesses said they were hit with a second wave of shoppers looking for more holiday deals on Small Business Saturday, giving fuel to a growing "shop local" movement on the heals of Black Friday.

ASHWAUBENON – Locally-owned businesses said they were hit with a second wave of shoppers looking for more holiday deals Saturday, giving fuel to a growing "shop local" movement on the heels of Black Friday.

This is fifth year of organized Small Business Saturday shopping events across the country since American Express began promoting the movement in 2010.

Twenty-three small businesses in Ashwaubenon created their own campaign, called Shop Small Ashwaubenon, along with village leaders this year.

Pat Fuge, owner of Gnome Games, said he expected to have as many as 700 customers in his Ashwaubenon and Green Bay stores throughout the day.

He said he expected to double his sales from the Saturday after Thanksgiving and Black Friday last year. He credits that to the shop small campaign as well as extra traffic from the Green Bay Packers home game on Sunday.

"Our retail side of the operation has been really pleasantly busy. There are a lot of new faces coming through the door," Fuge said.

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A sign promoting Small Business Saturday hang on the door of Gnome Games in Ashwaubenon Saturday, Nov. 29, 2014.(Photo: Adam Rodewald/Press-Gazette Media)

"I have had a couple people who came after seeing (the shop small campaign) website, and I've heard a few people talking about it," Lewis said.

In 2013 consumers spent $5.7 billion on the day named by American Express in 2010 to promote shopping at smaller, independently owned business in the wake of the Christmas-season kickoff on Black Friday, which is dominated by big box chain stores.